A brief discussion of migraine headache symptoms

A throbbing and pulsating pain, mostly concentrated in one side of your head – is this the scenario of your headache type? Well, the chances are that your headache type is not just a simple tension type, but a migraine headache. Do not worry or panic about it as you are not the only one to suffer from a migraine headache. Migraines are quite common, but sadly, very few people seem to know about it. In fact, many sufferers fear to accept the possibility that their headache type can be migraine. But, if you have knowledge about the migraine headache symptoms, you will be able to identify your pain type.

Importance of knowing migraine symptoms:

The problem for most people that prohibits them from recognizing or identifying their type of headache is the lack of knowledge regarding its symptoms. This results in a delayed treatment or misdiagnosis and wrong treatment. In case of migraine, this can be really difficult as the pain is almost always extremely severe and difficult to cope with. Hence, to make sure that you do not delay its treatment and see a doctor at once, you must have an idea of the headache symptoms of migraine.

When you are talking about these symptoms, there is a factor that you should understand. The symptoms of migraine vary to quite an extent, from one stage to the other.

Here is a brief discussion regarding those symptoms in different stages of this headache.

Migraine headache symptoms during prodrome:

The prodrome is the stage that occurs before a migraine attack. It can last for about one or two days before an actual attack. The migraine symptoms at this stage are –

• Craving for food
• Constipation
• Increased thirst
• Increased urination
• Mood swings (sometimes you will feel depressed and sometimes euphoric, suddenly)
• Stiffness in neck
• Frequent yawning

These are very subtle changes or symptoms, but they indicate that a migraine attack is ensuing.

Migraine symptoms during an attack:

The migraine headache symptoms during an attack are –

• Throbbing or pulsating pain in one side of head
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Sensitivity to light, sound and strong smell
• Feeling lightheaded
• Blurred vision.

This stage can last for about 4 hours to as long as 72 hours. How long it will continue, cannot be predetermined. Even the frequency of a migraine attack varies from person to person. One can have migraine attacks a number of times in a month and others can get it once or twice a year.

Auras as migraine headache symptoms:

One of the most significant aspects of migraine headache symptoms is aura. Auras are nervous system disorders that can disturb sensory, motor and verbal sensations. These are extremely debilitating and disabling. These auras are not compulsory signs of migraine, but many sufferers experience them. The common auras are –

• Temporary vision loss
• Temporary paralysis
• Temporary speech loss
• Prickling or piercing sensation in arms and legs
• Convulsions
• Hearing noises
• Weakness
• Seeing flashes of light, bright spot or various shapes in front of eyes.

Usually the auras last for about 20 to 60 minutes.

Migraine headache symptoms during postdrome:

The symptoms of migraine at the last stage or postdrome, which is the stage after an attack, range within –

• Moodiness
• Confusion
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Extreme sensitivity to light or sound.

If you too experience any of these migraine headache symptoms, there are chances that your headache type is migraine. In that case, it is a very good idea that you see a doctor at once. The doctor will be able to diagnose your condition properly and prescribe the right medicines. There are medicines that can help you cope with the pain and seek the best treatment procedure. Just find the best doctor near you.

Is it just a simple headache or a migraine? Know the migraine causes to stay alert!

Are you suffering from severe headaches? Using balms or drinking a cup of tea isn’t coming of any help? Is the pain so severe that you fail to do your daily activities? Well, there are chances that you are having a migraine attack!

Relax, there is nothing to panic. Migraine headaches have become increasingly common and it is not just you, who is suffering from this extreme pain. There are many like you; even children! Your pain can be managed. But before that is done, you need to see a doctor. It is only a doctor, who will be able to diagnose your condition and identify if your headache type is migraine or not. In case it is, you need to identify the migrainecauses, so that you can eliminate them completely and get relief.

The mechanism of migraine pain:

Migraine headache has no particular cause behind it. Science cannot tell what exactly causes this extreme, severe, throbbing and pulsating sensation in the brain. But, genes and environmental factors are largely responsible for this and there is no denying this fact.

However, one thing that can clearly be said is that migraine is associated with the brain-stream and how it interacts with the trigeminal nerves. The trigeminal nerves are a major pathway for the brain to manage the pain in the brain. There are chemicals in the brain that keep the pain sensation low. One such chemical is serotonin.

Research studies have shown certain specific migraine causes, when serotonin levels drop significantly. The pain causing chemicals such as neuropeptides are released in the brain and as they travel through the meninges, the pain is felt.

Some of the major causes:

Some of the major and possible migraine causes can be –

• Irregularity of the blood vessels in the brain
• Disorder of the central nervous system
• Abnormality and imbalance of brain chemicals
• Genetic predisposition

Major triggers of migraine:

Now that the possible migraine causes are identified, it is also important for you to know about the migraine triggers. There are certain factors that trigger the pain in the head. These can vary from person to person, but here are a few factors that are universal and common for most people. These include –

1. Foods and drinks:

Aged cheese, salty or processed foods, preservatives etc. foods and even MSG can trigger the pain in the head. Not just the foods, but also alcohol can trigger this pain.

2. Hormonal changes in women:

This is a reason, why more women suffer from migraine than women. Women, during their pregnancy, menopause and even before or during their menstruation get these attacks more frequently.

3. Sensory stimuli:

One of the very common signs of migraine is that the pain increases with light, sound and smell sensation. When you encounter strong light or smell or hear loud noises and sounds, it is likely that the pain will increase.

There are many other factors like sleep pattern changes, changes in atmospheric pressure etc. that vary from person to person. What migraine causes and triggers have been instrumental for you can be noted down in a migraine diary. You can download the diary from here http://www.mewithoutmigraine.com/migraine-diary/. See a doctor and he will guide you properly.

Know all about migraine in children – its causes and symptoms!

Headaches are common and many people have them at different times. Some have them frequently and some have them occasionally. But, what most people misunderstand is that only adults can have them. However, the fact is that even children can suffer from headaches and sometimes, they are as serious and severe as migraine. Migraine in children is not uncommon. Research studies have proven that many migraine sufferers have had their first attack before the age of 7.

Why do children get migraine attacks?

Parents often rule out the possibility of their children suffering from migraine, thinking that it can affect only adults. However, just like sinus, cold, infection or fever type headaches, migraine too is a possible cause of a headache in them. But, what exactly causes this or why children get these attacks is not clear to the scientists and doctors.

• Family history:

One factor that has been largely identified by them is family history. Most of the children, who have migraines, have parents or other people in their family, who have had migraine either in their childhood or are still patients of this serious pain.

• Brain chemical disorder:

Chemical disorder on the surface of the brain is also a factor that is much attributed to be the cause behind migraine in children. Scientists believed for long that the dilation and constriction of blood vessels of the brain have a direct impact on this condition. But, research studies have proven that sufferers of migraine are born with certain brain abnormalities that they inherit from their family.

When does a child get migraine attacks?

Migraine in children is a condition that cannot be predetermined when it will occur. But, when it does, it can stay for about 30 minutes to 48 hours. However, there are a few conditions in which a child may be more likely to get these attacks. These external factors are called triggers. The common triggers are –

• Stress, anxiety and tension
• Weather changes like strong winds, barometric pressure
• Exposure to the sun
• Physical activity
• Change in routine
• Food and beverages like aged cheese, alcohol, processed meats and foods, MSG or caffeinated products

However, it is not necessary that a person has to experience all or any of these as triggers for migraine in children. In case of any such hint, it is best that you consider a specialist who deals with this problem. To ensure that you find specialists nearby, you can check out http://www.mewithoutmigraine.com/locate-a-doctor/

How to understand if it is migraine?

Migraines can be seriously debilitating for a child. Even adults cannot cope with the excruciating pain at times. Hence, to make sure that the best treatment is provided to them, one needs to identify the type of a headache as migraine. The symptoms of migraine in children are –

• Extreme pain
• Nausea
• Fainting
• Vomiting
• Sensitivity to sound and light
• Abdominal pain
• Stomach upset or even diarrhoea
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue

Migraine in children can occur as frequently as many times in a month or as infrequent as once or twice a year. Hence, when it does, it is a must that you notice the triggers that have led to the condition. This will help the doctor to identify the causes and also offer the best treatment.

Decipher the migraine causes to take early precaution!

Amongst all the headaches that are scientifically testified, it is migraine that is most underrated. There are a number of hereditary and environmental factors that can be touted as approximate reasons for migraine causes, however, no specific reason is said to have been found in that regard.

A single attack or pre-attack situation can actually cause quite a debilitating pain for a sufferer of migraine, since it causes a combination of enlarged blood vessels with over sensitization of nerve fibres. Thus, a person who is already a sufferer of this chronic disease should take prior measures in every respect.

Decoding the throbbing pain:

Unlike other headaches, which can be a result of variety of causes, a migraine pain is specifically thought to originate from the trigeminal nerve system. This being one of the major pathways in one’s nervous system can result in traveling of chemicals of the brains on the outer surface, rather than the inner side.

Yet, there is no fixed point from where this issue of migraine causes can be decoded. The only respite rests in checking out issues that actually causes this major problem and work religiously to reduce those issues.

Probable causes of migraine:

Apart from certain tried and tested tools, migraine causes depend on certain environmental concerns and gender to a certain extent. Yet, streamlining these issues, certain factual aspects can also be taken into consideration.

·         Hormonal issues:

This is specifically related to women. Generally during the menstrual cycle, or in the post cycle period, women experience this throbbing pain to a great extent. Also, women who specifically take in birth control and hormonal pills are more susceptible to this headache. At times, pregnant women experience this pain during third trimester. So, this can surely be stated as one of the most important migraine causes.

·         Irregular sleep patterns:

This is another important issue that needs to be taken care of. Most of the people do not have a proper and regular sleep pattern that affects their overall physical condition. Thus, this irregularity becomes a natural cause of issues associated with migraine.

·         Specific food items:

For a sufferer of migraine headache, any type of food item that contains even a minimal amount of tyramine can result in a major issue. Specific food items such as aged cheese, smoked fish, alcohol and red meat intake can become catalysts in migraine causes.

·         Lack of a balanced nutrition:

This is surely one of the most important issues that can cause a severe migraine attack. Most people in present times are not very concerned of their diet, and also have less intake of water throughout the day. Poor eating habits and poor intake of water can increase the severity of migraine attack.

·         Improper medication:

Generally, a person suffering from migraine may be recommended triptan for respite. If this is overdone than it may add on to the migraine causes.

With no fixed remedy to this problem, it is best that a person takes special care of one’s health to subside this pain to a certain extent.

How to find the migraine cure that is right for you!

Migraines are annoying and painful, and sometimes we fail to select a correct treatment for it. A migraine cure is not very hard to find. If you want to relieve your pain quickly and easily, then you must consult a doctor. He will recommend some medication for you, but never take medication without any consultation. 

However, first thing is first. You have to figure out what exactly is the cause of your migraine to select an effective migraine cure. For all you know, the cure you attempt to try may have some amount of the trigger in it, or it may be the trigger itself. This is why you need to track what you consume in case your trigger is in your food or drinks. If you are sensitive to loud noises and bright lights, then you don’t need much effort to figure it out. A pattern will crop up that will make this sort of a trigger fairly obvious. 

Migraine cures: 

A migraine cure can be found in some of the most natural sources available, and there are many herbal doctors and physicians who can help you in this respect. Many people use herbal recipes that have been passed down through generations but still seem to work miracles. 

1. Lavender oil is known to be a useful migraine cure. It also smells amazing. It can be inhaled by applying two to three drops in boiling water. It is soothing and will also give the whole house a lovely aroma. It will make everyone feel like they’re walking into a house. You can also apply the lavender topically and see whether it works well on migraine or not. 
2. Ice packs are a good and inexpensive way to combat migraines. You always have ice in a freezer, and it helps to numb the area of a headache so that the throbbing goes down. It is also a quick relief method that doesn’t involve any medication. This is an excellent plus point.
3. Pumpkin seeds, Swiss chard, halibut are all rich in one particular mineral, that is, magnesium. Magnesium is not something that we get anywhere and everywhere so we must rely on our diets for our daily dosage. A lack of magnesium in the body is known to cause migraines, so adding it to your diet can give you good results.
4. Exercise and yoga are some of the best-known ways to relieve migraines that are caused by stress. It not only keeps you fit, but it is a wonderful migraine cure as well. 

Migraine cures are basically routines and diets that help in migraine prevention. Once you figure out the cause of your migraine, it is easy to prevent.

What is migraine and how to maintain oneself against it?

The present century has brought with itself, apart from a variety of technological inventions, a series of health issues that gets aggravated with every passing day. Headaches being quite common amongst them are truly of those types that make sure that a person is rendered helpless for almost quite a period of time.

One of those unique types of headache is known as migraine headaches. 

What is migraine?

What is migraine is a persistent question for many, who are identified as suffering from the symptoms of this pain. A migraine headache is a severe headache that has its origin in the autonomic nervous system. It brings with itself a series of symptoms along with the pain that can actually last from a couple of hours to a few days, disrupting the daily activities of the person. Hence one needs to be very careful regarding the occurrence of this pain and its final outcome. Identifying the symptoms would make it easier to survive them.

What are the symptoms?

The very first question that people generally ask after being informed that this headache has its own special symptoms is that what is migraine and what is so special about this headache?

Since it is quite different from general pain, people should be aware of its peculiarities 

• The pain is unilateral and throbbing in nature. It starts from one side of the head and it is on this side that the person feels the maximum pressure.
• However after a certain point of time, the pain can spread all over the head and hence, can easily cause an intense headache that could last for hours or days together.
• The person develops an intense sensitivity towards sound and light, making existence in any type of light very difficult. Dark and closed room is specially preferred in these cases.
• A vomiting tendency develops along with a feeling of nausea. Apart from it there is a sense of weakness in the whole body and also there is accompaniment of fever, sweating and severe diarrhoea in certain cases.

Thus, generally speaking a person is completely rendered helpless, in case of migraine attacks.

The answer to the query what is migraine can also rendered, when one talks about the types of headaches that one can face in this case.

• Cluster headache or pain that occurs in cycles is specifically significant part of the migraine attack.
• In case of ocular migraine one loses vision completely for a certain periods of time.

How to avoid it:

Like many other headaches, the pain and also many of its associated symptoms can definitely be reduced to a great extent. Once you have known what is migraine and how the symptoms may affect you, you can handle the pain and survive the symptoms. A doctor will certainly help you in this regard. One can definitely consider http://www.mewithoutmigraine.com/locate-a-doctor/ to search for a doctor, who can help in reducing this problem.

• One should stay away from those food items that may trigger the pain, such as wine, cheese, smoking etc.
• One should exercise regularly. In this way, a person can have proper body fitness reducing the chances of this pain.
• Maintaining a proper routine of diet and sleep is very important. This increases the power to sustain the pain.

A doctor will also help you to identify your triggers and reduce the pain.

Migraine headaches: Causes and various phases of migraines

A migraine is a kind of a headache that occurs only in a specific area of the head, although the area varies from person to person. The sufferer also shows sensitivity towards harsh sound or strong lights. The common symptoms associated with it are sneezing and vomiting that makes one’s life miserable. Generally, headaches due to migraine are more painful than the normal headaches, and it ranges from mild to moderate.

Migraine headaches are more experienced by women than men. Migraine becomes so terrible at times that it can even attack twice or thrice in a week, and the worst part is that; it can be treated to some extent giving you temporary relief but is not curable permanently. Though migraines don’t have any particular time to attack but usually the attack starts early morning.

People usually experience a kind of warning before the onset of pain. It may be feeling of weakness on any particular side of body or trouble in visibility because of the blind spots kind of thing develops in any one eye.


Top 3 things that you must known about migraines

Reasons behind a migraine

Migraine headaches are generally considered to be genetic so next time when you are experiencing terrible pain of migraine, blame your gene for the worst condition. But there are other factors that trigger the pain such as:

1. Lessor too much of sleep.
2. Drinking alcohol.
3. Drinking too much caffeine related beverages like tea, coffee, etc.
4. Food that contain monosodium glutamate which is a kind of flavour enhancer
5. Weather changes.
6. Strong fragrances.

Diagnosis of migraines

Migraine headaches can be easily diagnosed by physicians with its crystal clear symptoms such as the type of pain you experience, the area where exactly you feel the pain, and how often do you feel the pain. Based on these symptoms your physician advises a blood test or other medical examination.

Phases of migraines

Once migraine headache is triggered, it goes through four phases such as:

Early warning signs or prodromal phase 

This phase usually starts few hours before actual attack where a person might feel irritating, thirsty, cravings for any specific food, frequent urination etc.

Strong sensation or the aura phase

This phase is not experienced by many people suffering from migraines attacks. It is experienced by 1 out of 5 people where a person usually feels trouble in vision, a strange sensation like pricking of needles or pins on the skin.

The main attack phase

This is supposed to be one of the most terrific phases of migraines where a person feels just to relax in a quite dark room away from normal activities. It usually begins from above the eyes and get worst as time passes.

After attack or postdromal phase

After the attack the effect may last up to one day where a person feels extremely tired, confused and lethargic.

Migraine can be managed by maintaining good lifestyle like proper sleep, avoid foods that basically triggers the pain and by daily exercise. For more information visit www.mewithoutmigraine.com.

Knowing the common types of headaches – which one do you have?

Headache is a nervous system disorder that can be of different types. It is one of the most recurrent and constant uneasiness that people can experience. For some, it is tolerable and some fail to bear the excruciating and throbbing pain. Depending on the typesof headaches, the treatment plan must be chosen. Some have easy remedies and medicine to get rid of them, and some last for a lifetime.

Whatever type of headache you might have, it is very crucial that yours has been identified properly. Misdiagnosis may worsen the condition or at least prolong the pain, due to no proper support and supply of medicines. According to the World Health Organization, 47% of the adult population has had a headache at least for once within the previous year. Despite this huge number of sufferers, headache is one of the most under-recognised, underestimated as well as undertreated conditions.

Types of headaches:

A disorder of nervous system, a headache is a very disabling and painful feature. There are different types of headaches depending on the cause of its occurrence. Thus, there are the primary headaches that are caused by direct reasons and there are secondary headaches that are side effects or after effects of some other diseases or medication usage. More than 150 different kinds of headaches have been medically categorised. Amongst these, the most common ones are – tension headaches, sinus, migraines, cluster headaches, mixed headache, acute or chronic headaches etc.

• Tension type headache:

It is a non-progressive and chronic daily headache in which mild to moderate pain is felt. This type of pain caused by tension is mostly short-lived.

• Sinus headache:

Sinus pains are also one of the most common types of headaches and affect the forehead, cheekbones and bridge of nose. Nasal discharges, facial swelling, fever etc. are caused by the inflammation of the sinusitis. Sudden head movement can make the pain severe.

• Migraine headache:

Most people mistake their pain as sinus. However, in a 2004 study, it was seen that 80% of the doctor-diagnosed or self-diagnosed sinus headaches were actually migraines and had no signs of sinusitis. What causes migraine has not been understood, but in this case, serotonin levels in brain drops down and neuropeptides travel through the meninges. This causes this excruciating pain that can last for hours to 3 days at a stretch. Many people experience auras such as blind spots, flashes of light and intolerable sensitivity to light and sound, before the actual attack.

• Cluster headache:

One of the rarest of all types of headaches is cluster headache that occurs in only 1% of the entire population. Some even refer to this type as “suicide headache” due to the unbearable pain that the sufferer considers suicide as a better choice. The pain occurs behind the eye and is constantly throbbing. It can attack up to thrice a day and last for two weeks to three months.